Glysaranda 4.IV

Glysaranda 4.IV was the fourth moon of the fourth planet in the Glysaranda system, a human settled world some time during the long ages of the Galactic Compact before the Great Forgetting. By the time the Season Of Innocence came to an end, the artilect Crinomu was the only surviving dweller on the World Of The Long Sleep who knew anything about its otherwise lost history, which had long passed into legend even before his own very ancient original birth.   Crinomu told Klane Kalonia how the instrument known as a "klane" originated there. For more than five hundred years it was perfected by a succession of designers until it became a totemic symbol of Glysaranda 4.IV, known far and wide for its cultural significance. The klane was first and foremost a tool, and a tool of great subtlety, capable of serving many purposes. It was crucial in the taming of the wild southern jungles of Glysaranda 4.IV. But the klane was also a weapon, adopted by the knight wanderers who fought duels with it according to baroque codes of honour incomprehensible beyond Glysaranda 4.IV. Off world they took the klane into battle against the Dark Legions in the desperate days when the Golden Allies made their last stand and called on all the Systems of the Arm to aid them.   Of the system itself, the Galactic Compact now claims to have no record. Its location is shrouded in mystery and the knight wanderers are long gone...   The illustration shows one of the early knight wanderers with a primitive version of the sword that would later become the incredibly sophisticated and balanced instrument that was the klane.